Milk bank, WtE plants, among proposals in MCD 2024-25 Budget
New Delhi: The Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Gyanesh Bharti presented the Budget for the 2024-2025 in the Special Budget Meeting at Civic Centre on Saturday.
According to that, MCD estimates Rs 16,683.02 crore in expenditure during their next financial year, with an income of Rs 15,686.99 crore. This is similar to the figures of the ongoing financial year, where the revised Budget estimate is Rs 16,224 crore in expenses with Rs 15,952 crore in income. The income for the 2022-2023 season was almost Rs 400 crore more than the last fiscal year due to an income of Rs 2,417 crore, making it the highest revenue earned through property tax in MCD history.
During his speech, the Commissioner mentioned that the Budget will be used to launch a pilot project where Artificial intelligence will be implemented in Preet Vihar, East Patel Nagar, and Kotla Mubarakpur wards to identify shortcomings and improve the civic services provided by the Corporation.
He also announced that the Corporation has been responsible for processing almost 10.2 million metric tonnes of waste from the three landfill sites of Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur as of November 2023, using trommel machines.
They have also planned to implement waste to energy plants in Narela-Bawana, Okhla and Tehkhand. While the former will have a capacity of 3,600 TPD, the latter are being considered for expansion.
The Corporation has also proposed the first lactation management unit or Milk Bank to be set up in Swami Dayanand Hospital, a blood storage facility at Mata Gujri Hospital, and multiple testing laboratories according to the PPP model in 60 primary health centres.
Additionally, they also plan to sterilise almost 1 lakh stray dogs in the upcoming fiscal year, amongst other
projects, including developing schools, parking lots,
cremation grounds, hiring staff and other.
Delhi Mayor, Shelly Oberoi has said, “The Budget of the officers has been presented today in the MCD’s House by the Commissioner.
But the real Budget of the people of Delhi will come in the first week of February. Meetings will be held with RWAs and Market Associations. Based on the suggestions of the citizens, the public Budget will be prepared.”
On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has raised their contentions with the procedure and the Budget presented.
“Due to the Aam Aadmi Party’s failure to form permanent committees, ward committees, and other crucial committees, the Commissioner had to present the Budget in the Municipal Assembly, which is entirely unconstitutional. Additionally, they have made a Budget cut of 2.5 percent for sanitation, while they claim that their priorities are education and cleanliness,” said Raja Iqbal Singh, Leader of Opposition in MCD.
